


Time Has Brought Your Heart To Me

by mymidsummersunshine



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:48:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymidsummersunshine/pseuds/mymidsummersunshine
Summary: Anders and Matt got married, and now it’s time for Charlie to confront some old lingering feelings of his own
Relationships: Anders Bjork/Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie Coyle/Chris Wagner
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Time Has Brought Your Heart To Me

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally part 2 of a series, but I don't like the first part so I took it down. It should still make sense on its own, basically the only information you need is that the team goes to Vegas and Matt and Anders got drunk and decided to get married, this takes place immediately after that
> 
> Title taken from A Thousand Years by Christina Perri

Charlie wants to say he’s forgotten about the whole thing, but how can he? 

He doesn’t think about it daily anymore, maybe once or twice a month, when it’s late at night and he can’t sleep so he just lets his mind wander. Maybe a little more often since he got traded to Boston. But he’s never forgotten entirely. At the same time, Chris has never brought it up, so he doesn’t want to, either, in case _he_ wants to forget. He can pretend, for him.

The Vegas trip was going well; they won the game and they all went to the bar to celebrate, but then Matt and Anders went missing. They had gone to the bar with everyone else but had left early, and no one had seen them since, and they weren’t answering their phones. Charlie slept poorly that night, worried about his teammates’ safety and what might have happened to them. It’s a big city.

So he’s relieved to hear Sean shout “There you are!” at breakfast the next morning. He turns around and sees them, and instantly feels the weight lift off his shoulders. They’re alright.

He lets Patrice do all the interrogation as to where they were, since it feels like a more (alternate) captain-like thing to do, and goes back to his breakfast. But when he hears Jake’s question he whips his head around so fast he gets a little dizzy.

“Did you guys fucking get married?”

One look at their faces tells him that yes, they did get married. They did what he and Chris hadn’t all those years ago. Charlie’s sure he’s making a ridiculous face, but so is the majority of the team, so it goes unnoticed.

While Matt and Anders stand there, blushing furiously and answering everyone’s questions (well, it’s mostly Anders answering questions, seeing as Matt has buried his face in Anders’ chest and doesn’t look like he wants to move any time soon), a million thoughts run through Charlie’s head. Almost all of them start with what if.

What if it had worked out? What if Chris’ mom had never caught them? What if he had said something before he left? What if he hadn’t lost the ring somewhere in the airport between Minnesota and home because he never stopped wearing it? What if he had just brought it up again when he got traded to the Bruins? What if he brought it up after his first goal with the team? After the ECF? Yesterday? What if?

When Matt and Anders finally get their breakfasts and join the table, Charlie half listens as the questions keep coming. Who’s taking whose name? Who proposed? Did you guys really just say, hey that looks fun, and just do it? But it’s Chris’ question that makes his heart shatter all over again, just like it did when he was eighteen.

“But why stay married?”

Anders opens and closes his mouth a few times, but nothing comes out. Matt just looks frozen in place. Clearly neither of them were expecting that question, and frankly, Charlie hadn’t been, either.

“Why not pretend it never happened? Just go back to being friends?”

“Because I love him,” Anders says, and Charlie can’t take it anymore. He stands up with the excuse to refill his coffee and hopes it’s not too obvious. He takes his time stirring in the cream and sugar to get the color to just the right shade. Several people fill up their own coffees in the time it takes, so he knows he’s probably being suspicious. He takes a deep breath and heads back to the table.

The rest of the team seems to be finishing up, so he pours his fresh coffee into a to-go cup and clears his plate. Some of his teammates are planning in small groups for some outings into the city, because their flight isn’t until late tonight and they have the day off, while others (Anders and Matt included) elect to stay back at the hotel and rest. He tries to join the first group he sees as an attempt to distract himself, but he’s stopped by a tug at his sleeve. He looks over and sees that it’s Chris.

“Can we talk?” he says quietly. Charlie gulps and nods. Maybe he hadn’t been as inconspicuous as he had hoped.

They say goodbye to the rest of the team and head up to Chris and Torey’s room. Chris sits on his bed, meanwhile Charlie takes the chair at the desk. For a while the only sound is the gentle hum of the air conditioner, before Chris breaks the silence.

“So they really fucking did that, didn’t they,” he says with a half-hearted laugh.

Charlie smiles and nods. “They’ve been dancing around each other for a while. I’m glad it worked out for them.” _I wish it could have worked out for us, too_ , he adds in his head.

“Yeah.”

The silence is unbearable, so Charlie speaks up again. “Look, I’m gonna be honest, alright?” he starts. “I never forgot. I know we said we would, but I just couldn’t. I thought about you every day. I regret not marrying you then, and I still regret it now. But if you just want to be friends, then I won’t force it. I just... I just thought you should know,” he ends his rambling with a shrug.

Chris doesn’t say anything, but Charlie knows him well enough to know that it’s not because he wasn’t listening. He’s taking his time to process his words. All Charlie can do now is wait. He’s been waiting ten years, he can wait a little longer.

“I never forgot, either,” Chris says slowly. “I never wanted to. But we were so young, back then. Like we were adults, legally, but we were still teenagers. And when my mom found us that day with the rings, I panicked. I knew she didn’t want us to get married so young. I guess I just let all the doubt get to my head. So I thought it would be best if we just tried to pretend it never happened. But, uh.” Chris takes the chain around his neck out from under his shirt, and Charlie is shocked to see the ring around it. The same ring he had bought for him ten years ago. He silently curses himself for not thinking of that solution, because his own ring was now lost forever in the bottom of a security bucket in the Minneapolis airport somewhere.

“I never did,” Chris finishes his sentence, snapping Charlie out of his thoughts.

“So what now?” Charlie has to ask. He knows what he wants, but does Chris?

Chris smiles. “I say we try it again, if you want. Better late than never, right?” he asks, and Charlie could cry with relief. He just nods as he stands up and moves over to the bed, pulling Chris into a tight hug. Chris hugs him back, and it’s the most at home Charlie has felt in a long time, even though they’re thousands of miles away from Boston.

They pull apart, staring into each other’s eyes for a moment before Charlie asks, “may I?” as he leans forward slightly. Chris nods and closes his eyes. The moment their lips meet, Charlie feels like he’s eighteen again, stealing kisses from him in his room, under a stairwell at the arena for the Kings, in Chris’ car after they snuck out, everywhere. Everything about it is so familiar and comfortable to him in a way he never realized how much he would miss. The way they fit together, they way Chris’ arms wrap around his neck, the sound of the door opening -

Wait. Fuck.

Charlie scrambles back so fast he nearly falls off the bed. He hadn’t even heard the key card beep to unlock it. He looks up to find Torey looking between the two of them.

“Oh, not you, too!” he says, exasperated. “I just left Matt and Sean's room because he and Anders were being all cute and cuddly and shit. Get a -” he stops himself and sighs. “I guess you have a room. But can you get a room that’s not mine? I want to take a nap.”

Charlie and Chris stand up quickly and leave, mumbling apologies to Torey as they shut the door behind them. When the door clicks, Charlie takes one look at Chris before he bursts out laughing.

“Just like old times,” he jokes, and Chris laughs too.

“We need better roommates.”

As their laughter dies down, Charlie sighs. “I can’t believe I never thought to wear my ring on a chain like that,” he says, fidgeting with it. “I never wanted to stop wearing it, but it got lost in the airport years ago. By the time I realized it was missing the plane had already taken off.”

“That’s alright,” Chris says. “We can get you a new one. I think I know someone who might know a place.”

“I think I might know two someones.”

Chris laughs again, and Charlie feels himself fall in love with him all over again. Or, no, that’s not quite right, because that implies he ever stopped. He takes Chris’ hand as they walk down the hall to Matt and Sean's room, but he’s surprised to find Sean sitting on the floor outside.

“Sean? What are you doing? Did you lock yourself out?” he asks.

Sean looks up from his phone. “No, I just, uh. I’m giving them a moment,” he answers as his ears turn red. “I forgot my wallet in there though, so I don’t want to go too far.”

“Damn, sexiled already? They’ve been married, what, twelve hours?”

“What? God, no, they just fell asleep and were being all cuddly when they woke up. Nothing too extreme, yet, anyway. Why, did you guys need something?”

Charlie looks at Chris to answer. “We just had a question for them,” he says. “Can you text us when they’re done doing... whatever they’re doing?”

Before Sean can answer, right on cue, the door opens. Matt and Anders come out, holding hands and looking surprised at the mini gathering in the hallway.

“Oh, hi guys,” Anders says. “What’s up?”

Sean heads back into the room, presumably to grab his wallet. 

“Nothing, we, uh,” Charlie starts. “Congrats, by the way, I don’t think I said anything.” They both thank him. “I did want to ask, though, uh. Where do you get the rings? Did you already have them, or...?”

“Oh, they were selling them at the chapel,” Matt says. “They measured them for us and everything. Pretty reasonably priced, too. Why, do you know someone who’s getting married?”

Charlie doesn’t answer right away, and neither does Chris, and that’s enough for Anders to put it together.

“No fuckin way,” he says. “You too?!”

“Not the same thing,” Chris argues. “We’ve technically been engaged for ten years. And we’re not having our actual wedding yet. You’ll be invited, don’t worry.”

Anders shakes his head. “Copycats.”

Charlie ignores him and takes Chris’ hand to lead him out of the hotel. It doesn’t matter to him if they’re “copying.” He’s marrying his best friend after ten long years. That’s a lot to be happy about.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr @mymidsummersunshine!


End file.
